Majority of Irish beaches dirty as vapes become the new scourge

Volunteers remove rubbish from White Bay beach in East Cork. Picture: Cathal Noonan

A majority of Ireland’s beaches are dirty, with disposable vapes “rapidly emerging” as a common form of litter on coastlines, a new survey has found.

The annual survey of coasts and inland waterways by Irish Business Against Litter (IBAL) found that while there was a 50% rise in clean sites surveyed compared to last year, Ireland's coastal areas are still more littered than its towns.

Of the total of 33 beaches, harbours, and rivers surveyed by An Taisce, six areas in Cork were found to be littered  in June and July. These were Ballinacurra, Bantry harbour, Castletownbere harbour, Cork harbour (Blackrock Castle), Kinsale harbour, and White Bay beach.

IBAL said that nationally, popular beaches at Portmarnock and Lahinch deteriorated to "littered" status, as did Dog’s Bay in Galway, while those at Bundoran, Ballybunion, Skerries, and Strandhill were deemed "moderately littered".

The beaches listed as clean included Tramore, Salthill, and Killiney, along with Brittas Bay and Curracloe in Wexford. However, for the first time since IBAL started its coastal surveys in 2017, no area was deemed to be a litter blackspot. 

Cork harbour had previously been deemed a blackspot, but made a slight improvement thanks to “Trojan work” at local level.

“Over an unsettled summer, where our beaches attracted far fewer numbers than normal, one might have expected the majority to be virtually free of litter,” said IBAL’s Conor Horgan.

 

“Unfortunately, this does not reflect the state of our coastal environment. There is much ‘long lie’ litter and waste coming in from the sea, and this is compounded by litter from those who continue to frequent our coastline despite the inclement weather.” 

In terms of what people are littering beaches with, IBAL said the bad weather in July had little effect on the most prevalent types of litter, such as cigarette butts, sweet wrappers, fast-food wrapping, and plastic bottles.

Coffee cups were found at almost half of sites, while disposable vapes were encountered at one in seven locations. The business group said this made vapes significantly more common as litter on Irish beaches than on streets.

“This time last year we were not seeing this form of litter at all, so its rapid emergence is worrying. So too is its impact on our environment," said Mr Horgan.

At a time when we are urgently trying to reduce plastic pollution in our oceans, the emergence of vapes is concerning.

IBAL backs a ban on disposable vapes and, during the weekend, Electric Picnic announced that it would be banning these vapes at this year’s music festival.

IBAL added that its annual big beach clean is due to take place next month, with volunteer groups including in excess of 40,000 people, which it said reflects the growing public concern at the impact of litter and pollution on marine life.